40143After 30 days, reports of an ubiquitous cash crunch marked by interminable queues and empty ATMs read almost the same. During the period, some of the BJP parliamentarians have also had a taste of it.

Three MPs -- two from the Rajya Sabha and one from the Lok Sabha -- went to the bank to withdraw Rs 24,000 each -- the maximum allowed to be taken out every week from banks currently.

Two of them were from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one from the Janata Dal-United.

The bank officials, apparently facing a cash crunch, requested the three MPs to take out Rs 5,000 each, which they refused.

"This is the situation in the temple of democracy. Imagine what must be the situation in the remote corners of the country!" one of the three MPs told IANS, requesting anonymity.

Another BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh wondered how he can talk about the supposed benefits of the note ban to people in his constituency when he himself is suffering.

The all-round cash squeeze forced even the infirm to go and stand in lines for hours, which at times ended up in unfortunate incidents.

On Thursday, a woman, apparently in her 20s, fainted on suffering an epileptic seizure after standing in queue for some time.

The woman, who had an Aadhaar card in her hand, suddenly started feeling dizzy, convulsed and collapsed on the road. An IANS correspondent witnessed the incident and saw the woman having an epileptic seizure outside the Axis Bank near the Sector 16 Metro station.

A group of Good Samaritans stepped out of the queue and rushed to help her. Some of them began rubbing her hands and feet till she revived some 10 minutes later. She went back empty handed, not daring to risk it in the line again.

In the meantime, in Manipur, the struggle for survival for its residents continued since the high denomination notes ban.

Fifty-year-old N. Sanahanbi, a greengrocer here, who is trying to run her kitchen and educate her children at the same time, told IANS that since November 8 she has not been able to sell anything simply because customers have no low denomination notes and she does not have change for the Rs 2,000 note that some of them bring.

It is the same for Satyabati, a young mother, who was unable to withdraw money to pay monthly and examination fees of her three children and also have cash for family expenses.

She said: "We suspect that there is connivance even in the distribution of tokens. Although we come early in the morning, we are always informed that all tokens have already been distributed."

A number of deaths -- either in bank queues or in ATM lines -- were also attributed to the cash-poverty that demonetisation has caused.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also tweeted: "One month since demonetisation was announced. More than 90 lives lost. How many more Modi Babu?"

However, if there are people who condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move, there are many others who laud it as a potent corruption killer.

"I have been using Paytm for transaction at my shop since months before the notes were banned. I am in favour of cashless transactions, and also advise other grocers to adopt the same method for transacting," Ravikant, a provision store owner in Harola village of Noida, told IANS.

"Of course, there are times when it wouldn't work, but nothing is perfect, after all," he added.

]]>"Cigarettes smuggling is a low-risk, high-reward criminal activity because high taxes on cigarettes induce great financial incentive for smugglers to earn huge profits," said the report released by Ficci's CASCADE (Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy).

The report titled 'Invisible Enemy -- A Threat to Our National Interests' highlights that in the last one year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seizures of smuggled cigarettes have increased by 78 per cent from Rs 90.75 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 162 crore in 2015-16, followed by fabric/silk yarn, where the increase is by 73 per cent from Rs 24.03 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 41.78 crore in 2015-16.

"The seizures of gold have witnessed an increase of 61 per cent (from Rs 692.35 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 1,119.11 crore in 2015-16). While the Department of Revenue Intelligence seizures of machinery parts and electronic items has seen a decline," the report said.

The report was released at an international conference on 'Cross Border Illicit Trade in Goods: Impact on Economy and Consumers' in collaboration with the Department of Consumer Affairs.

The conference was organised with an aim to ensure that national and international stakeholders can dialogue with policymakers to identify opportunities for joint action between governments and the private sector to combat illicit cross-border trade.

"Operations in illicit cross-border trade, is a global problem of enormous scale, impacting virtually every product sector and every country. The illicit market for fake or counterfeit or smuggled products is also one of the biggest challenges faced by Indian industry, which is impacting 'Brand India' globally," said Hem Pande, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs.

"Safeguarding legitimate business owners' rights is a key to sustain the country's growth strategy. Addressing these issues cannot be done in isolation; it is a joint responsibility of consumers, enforcement agencies, the industry and the government," he added.

Najib Shah, Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), said that illegal trade is a growing menace and the need of the hour is collaboration among stakeholders to tackle it.

"Growth of illicit trade through e-commerce is a new challenge, which also needs urgent attention. Unchecked, it will continue to multiply. We also need to lay equal emphasis on the rights of legitimate businesses, which are greatly impacted by illegal trade," he said.

]]>New Delhi: Jumping on to the bandwagon, Vodafone India on Friday announced introduction of unlimited free voice calling for prepaid customers with the launch of two new packs.

"We had recently made incoming free on national roaming across India. Now, with these unlimited calling plans, there will be absolutely no need to hold back," said Sandeep Kataria, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone India, in a statement.

The first pack, Rs 144-149, will offer unlimited local and STD calls to Vodafone connections across the country with 50MB data for 28 days. It also offers unlimited incoming free on national roaming and 300MB data for 4G handset users, the statement said.

The other pack, Rs 344-349, will offer unlimited local and STD on all mobile and landline calls across the country with 50MB data for 28 days. It also offers unlimited incoming free on national roaming and 1GB data for 4G handset users, the statement added.

]]>The stock opened at Rs 860 on the National Stock Exchange and rose to Rs 1032, gaining 41.4% over the issue price. Over 4.8 million shares have been traded so far at the Sheela Foam counter on NSE.

The IPO from Sheela Foam Limited, that hit the market last week, was subscribed more than five times, despite opening on a rather muted note.

The company fixed the issue price at Rs 730, the upper end of the Rs 680 - 730 price band. ICICI Securities Ltd and Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd., managed the share sale.

The company, which has 11 manufacturing facilities in India and five units in Australia, exports its products to nearly 25 countries. It has a network of more than 100 distributors and around 5000 dealers, spread across the country.

Sleepwell brand mattress is the major product of the company. It also makes other foam-based home comfort products targeted primarily at Indian retail consumers as well as technical grades of polyurethane foam for end-use in a wide range of industries.]]>Toronto - Canadian mobile company BlackBerry on Friday launched a Cloud-enabled mobile security platform for "Enterprise of Things" that will address entire businesses from endpoint to endpoint.

"Enterprise of Things" is defined as the network of intelligent connections and endpoints within the enterprise that enable products to move from sketch to scale.

It is a collection of devices, computers, sensors, trackers, equipment and other things that communicate with each other to enable smart product development, distribution, marketing and sales.

"Businesses must be able to confidentially and reliably transmit sensitive data between endpoints to keep people, information and goods safe," John Chen, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackBerry, said in a statement.

The platform completes the integration of the BlackBerry's prior acquisitions of key technologies such as Good Technology, WatchDox, AtHoc and Encription, the company said.

]]>New Delhi - With foreign missions here expressing difficulties in running their day-to-day affairs due to the government's demonetisation move, the Finance Ministry has been asked to direct banks to allow diplomats to withdraw money on a priority basis, a senior official said on Thursday.

"The Ministry of External Affairs has received communications from some embassies about the problems they face in the context of the demonetisation of high value notes," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here.

"With a view to avoid inconveniencing their operations, the ministry has been in discussion with concerned authorities in the government on this matter," he stated.

"The Finance Ministry, as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis."

On Wednesday, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in India and Ambassador of the Dominican Republic Frank Castellanos said that Rs 50,000 cap a week for the operation of an embassy was not enough.

Citing the Vienna Convention, he said that diplomats could not be stopped from accessing their funds and a solution to this was needed soon.

Last week, Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs complaining about inadequate funds.

On Thursday, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar met Castellanos and discussed the issues raised by foreign missions and how best to address them.

"We appreciate learning from the Dean that the vast majority of foreign missions understand that the demonetisation exercise is being conducted to combat the menace of black money and tax avoidance," Swarup said.

"We are confident that the missions would bear with the temporary difficulties that arise in that process, even as we seek to address their concerns."

On the cap of Rs 50,000 withdrawal per week, the spokesperson said that the External Affairs Ministry has agreed to look into the issue and take it up with the Finance Ministry.

As for Catellanos citing the Vienna Convention, he said that the convention "clearly says that foreign diplomatic missions are to be allowed uninterrupted facilities for their work".

"We have given him a very sympathetic hearing to him today. The meeting (between Jaishankar and Castellanos) was very constructive, very cordial and we have agreed to refer his concerns to the concerned quarters," Swarup stated.

]]>The West Coast Refinery & Petrochemical project that will come up in Maharashtra through a joint venture company, will have a capacity of approximately 60 million metric tonne per annum.

Shares of BPCL are up 0.75%, while Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation are up 1.2% and 1%, respectively.

All the three companies reported strong results for the September 2016 quarter. While BPCL reported a more than 26% jump in net profit in the quarter, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation reported around Rs 701 crore and Rs 3122 crore, respectively, as against net loss of 317.33 crore and 450.24 crore the two had posted in the year-ago quarter.]]>New York - Depending on smartphone-based health applications for managing chronic conditions or complex health needs may prove to be risky as such apps are falling short on many counts, a study led by Indian-origin scientist has found.

"Clearly, there is a large-scale proliferation of apps happening related to health and people have made the switch-over to smartphones. But the question is, to what extent are apps serving the needs of patients with chronic diseases and their caregivers, as opposed to generally healthy people seeking help with wellness," said lead author Karandeep Singh, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan in the US.

The study is based on a comprehensive review of 137 of the most highly rated or often recommended mobile health or mHealth apps on Apple and Google app stores, aimed at people with chronic conditions.

The findings showed that there was a wide range of highly rated apps that offer to help people with conditions such as diabetes and depression, but for those with arthritis or pain only few options high-quality apps were present."

The ratings on app stores mainly supplied by other users could not always be a reliable guide even with highly rated apps.

Further, nearly 121 of the apps were found to let people enter information such as a daily blood sugar or blood pressure level or whether they were feeling suicidal into their phone.

However, only 28 of these apps reacted appropriately when the reviewers entered a dangerous value, for instance a high blood pressure or low blood sugar level, or a suicidal mood, the researchers explained.

In addition, most of the apps allow users to share their health information with others, but the researchers found that often this was through insecure methods.

Only two-thirds of the apps had a written privacy policy spelling out how they protect or use the information supplied by users.

This is better than previous studies of all mHealth apps have found, but still troubling to the researchers because the apps in this study were supposed to be the most top-notch.

"We found that the consumer-generated rating on the app store is a very poor marker of how usable an app is, and whether a physician would recommend it. Clearly, the work is not done once consumers have rated an app," Singh added.

The study was published in the journal Health Affairs.

]]>Crompton Greaves shares tumbled to Rs 60.05 this morning, losing nearly 9% in the process. Despite having recovered to Rs 62.10 now, the stock is still deep down in negative territory, with a loss of around 5.7%.

On BSE, the Crompton Greaves counter has clocked a volume of 32.61 lakh shares so far in the session, as against an average daily volume of 7.61 lakh shares. On the National Stock Exchange, over 33 million shares have been traded so far at the Crompton Greaves counter today.

It may be recalled that in May 2016, Crompton Greaves, along with its subsidiaries, CG International BV and CG International Holdings Singapore PTE, had signed a SPA with Pauwels Spaco – an SPV of First Reserve, for the sale of the Company’s transmission & distribution business outside India.

The company said in a press release that certain conditions precedents to the Share Purchase Agreement continue to remain unfulfilled and that the fulfillment of the same is beyond the reasonable control of the parties in the multi-geography/product line international power business of the company.

Following a review of the situation, the parties to the agreement decided not to further pursue the completion and the SPA consequently stands terminated, the filing from the company said.

Crompton Greaves has stated that it will continue to explore alternative geography and product wise options for sale of its international power business, while continuing the strategic initiatives for improving overall operational efficiency of the international power business.

Besides news of the termination of the deal, Crompton Greaves' reverse turnaround results too contributed to the sell-off at the counter. The company reported consolidated net loss of Rs 10.41 crore for the quarter ended September 2016, as against net profit of Rs 10.58 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

On standalone basis, Crompton Greaves posted a net profit of Rs 89.94 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 as compared to Rs 101.16 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015. Total income increased from Rs 1189.73 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 to Rs 1277.01 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016.]]>Shares of Adani Transmission Limited are up 2% at Rs 60 and those of Reliance Infrastructure Limited are trading 3% up at Rs 487.

Interest at these counters is on the back of an announcement from Reliance Infrastructure that the two companies have entered into a Share Purchase Agreement for Reliance Infrastructure's divestment of its Western Region System Strengthening Scheme (WRSSS) transmission assets.

The deal values WRSSS transmission business at Rs 1000 crore and Reliance Infrastructure Limited says that it will utilise the entire sale proceeds for debt reduction.]]>Shares of Tata Steel Limited opened at Rs 416.10 this morning, a positive gap of nearly 1%, and advanced to Rs 426.50 and is now within a striking distance of a 52-week high of Rs 440.90 it had touched on November 10. The stock had tumbled to a low of Rs 211.30 on February 12 this year.

Tata Steel has announced that its UK unit, Tata Steel UK has reached an agreement with the trade unions to progress towards the closure of its defined benefit pension scheme to future accrual.

That the unit has reached an agreement with trade unions on several proposals is expected to structurally reduce risks and help the firm secure a sustainable future for its UK business.

Employees at Tata Steel UK would be offered a competitive defined contribution scheme as part of the proposal for the closure of the British Steel pension scheme to future accrual.

Tata Steel UK and trade unions have also reportedly agreed on the principle that subject to the structural de-risking and de-linking of the British Steel Pension Scheme fund from the business, Tata Steel UK will continue the existing blast furnace configuration in Port Talbot until 2021.

Following this, the company will continue to invest across the UK sites to enhance the competitive position of Tata Steel UK in the European steel industry.

A pact that will support workers through future changes by investing in their skills to support digital initiatives, plant upgrades and automation, has also been offered for the employees.

The company has also offered an employment pact until 2021 which supports employees through future changes by investing in their skills to support further plant upgrades, automation and other digital initiatives.]]>New Delhi - Alcatel, TCL communication's mobile brand, on Thursday launched its flagship device "IDOL 4" in India and marked its entry into the VR space.

Priced at Rs 16,999, the device features Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor and 5.2 inch full HD display with 2D glass frame on both sides.

The "Boom Key" offers custom-made features to take photos, play music and generate effects in videos.

"The 'Boom Key' boom-ifies everything, from the sound to photos to gaming. We are optimistic that the consumers will love this product," said Praveen Valecha, Regional Director, Alcatel India.

The device sports 13MP back camera, an 8MP front camera and comes with a battery capacity of 2610 mAh. The flagship device also comes with VR goggles to give users a virtual reality experience. It also has a 360-degree photo and selfie ability.

"IDOL 4" is reversible in three ways as the interface rights itself if the users picks it up right side up or upside down.

"In addition, it is reversible left to right: stereo sound is always on the correct side, even when the phone is flipped and the speaker grille ensures that sound is unobstructed, whether the phone is facing up or turned over," the company said.

Exclusively available on Flipkart from Thursday, the device sports speakers up to 3.6 watts on both sides and comes in three variants of gold, dark grey and metal silver frames.

]]>Mumbai: Indian generic drug maker Laurus Labs Ltd's initial public offering of shares to raise up to 13.32 billion rupees ($197.58 million) was fully subscribed on the last day of the sale on Thursday, stock exchange data showed.

Laurus is selling up to 3 billion rupees in new shares and some its shareholders are selling about 24.1 million shares in a price range of 426 to 428 rupees per share.

Based in Visakhapatnam, Laurus makes active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), or drug raw materials, that go into the making a range of medicines, chiefly HIV/AIDS drugs. It has three production plants in India for exports to the United States and other countries.

Indian companies have raised $3.7 billion from IPOs so far this year, excluding the Laurus IPO, making 2016 the best year for initial share sales in six years, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

($1 = 67.4149 rupees)

]]>BRUSSELS - The European Union will take action on Thursday against seven nations including Germany and Britain for failing to police car emissions rules, EU sources said, after the Volkswagen cheating scandal showed suspicious behaviour in the industry.

Amid frustration in Brussels over nations' responses to diesel vehicles flouting pollution limits, the European Commission is resorting to the strongest legal action it can take against members of the 28-nation bloc - potentially ending in court.

Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) pollution from diesel engines, which power half of all cars in Europe, lead to respiratory illness and the premature death of 72,000 people per year, European Environmental Agency data shows.

A year after U.S. authorities caught VW using software to cheat emissions test, EU officials say many nations wooed by the industry's importance - it employs some 12 million people in the bloc - have shielded carmakers from the kind of sanctions some face in the United States.

According to EU sources familiar with the matter, the EU executive has found fault with countries for failing to set fines to deter sharp practice on emissions, penalise carmakers for breaching the law or cooperate with its demands for information.

Germany and Britain face cases linked to their testing and approval of new VW models, sources said.

"This is not the end; just the first wave of action," one EU source said.

A Commission spokeswoman declined to confirm the reports.

Thursday's notice is the first step in what is known as infringement procedures, allowing the European Union to take action against member states for failing to apply EU law.

Member states have two months to respond. If they fail to satisfy the Commission during a lengthy mediation, the EU can take the issue to European Courts.

Under current EU law, national regulators approve new cars and alone have the power to revoke those licenses or impose penalties - although they can be sold across the bloc.

So far, despite probes revealing the use of defeat devices in Germany, Italy, France and Britain, no country has penalised the cars it licensed in what critics see as a sign of collusion.

"All of them are still protecting their national interest," said Bas Eickhout, a Green member of the European Parliament. "There is increasing momentum but it is not enough."

Defeat devices that allow engines to emit more toxic tailpipe exhausts in road conditions that differ from laboratory tests have been illegal under EU law since 2007.

However, European carmakers say their use of such devices complies with an exemption allowing them where needed to protect the engine. Some national watchdogs, in turn, have argued vagueness in EU law allows for the loophole.

Europe's Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska has repeatedly insisted that EU law is clear on banning their use and called on member states to respect the spirit of the law.

Thursday's cases are a sign that the Commission, under pressure from the business-sceptical European Parliament and shaken by the rise of eurosceptic populists, is determined to show it can protect consumers.

But it faces a tough fight. A proposal by EU regulators for a shake-up of rules on how new vehicles are approved has been watered down by member states, documents seen by Reuters show.

]]>New Delhi - India is in talks with Russia to swap natural gas with China and Myanmar as an alternative to building a proposed pipeline to carry gas from Russian Siberia, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"Myanmar sells gas to China through an existing pipeline. If Russia can provide equivalent gas to China, then we can reverse the flow of gas from Myanmar to China and bring that gas to India," state-run ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) Managing Director Narendra K. Verma told reporters on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference here.

The two countries had in October signed an initial pact for building a 4,500 km to 6,000 km long pipeline from Siberia to India.

Verma said talks are on with Russian state-run gas major Gazprom for an alternative swap by which Russia will supply gas to China and in return China will give its share of gas from Myanmar to India.

"For that we'll need a pipeline from Myanmar to India," Verma said.

Such a swap was the best way of getting Russia to help India with its gas needs, but it would need the cooperation of China and Myanmar, he added.

India, which is 81 per cent import dependent on oil, is looking to increase its gas consumption towards moving towards a gas-based economy.

]]>LONDON - Tata Steel UK said onWednesday it was working on a solution for its debt-ladenBritish Steel Pension Scheme, after striking a deal with unionsto close the scheme to future accruals as part of an agreementguaranteeing investment and jobs.

Britain's biggest steelmaker has offered to keep productiongoing at the country's largest steel plant in Port Talbot,Wales, for at least five years, but wants to close theemployees' defined benefit scheme and replace it with a definedcontribution scheme.

"The proposed changes to future pension provision and otheremployment terms are necessary to de-risk the company and helpachieve long-term sustainability," Koushik Chatterjee, groupexecutive director Tata Steel and executive director for itsEuropean business, said in a statement.

Tata Steel UK will next week start consultation with itsemployees on a proposal to close the British Steel PensionScheme to future accrual, it said.

Pension experts say the scheme may be spun off into thePension Protection Fund, a pensions industry-backed life-boatfor failing schemes that would cut benefits by around 10 percentfor employees below retirement age.

]]>The central bank has held the repo rate at 6.25%. However, it has withdrawn the decision to ask banks to deposit all excess cash deposited in banks with it. Post demonetisation, the apex bank directed banks to maintain an incremental cash reserve ratio of 100%, effective the fortnight ended November 26.

Now, the bank has stated that following enhancement in the ceiling for issue of securities under the Market Stabilistion Scheme to Rs 6000 billion, it has decided to withdraw the incremental CRR effective the fortnight beginning December 10, 2016.

The central bank expects the economy (gross value added or GVA) to grow 7.1% in financial year 2017, lowering its forecast from earlier projection for a 7.6% growth. The bank says it does not expect inflation to completely collapse in the wake of demonetisation.

RBI said that the decision of the MPC is consistent with an accommodative stance of monetary policy in consonance with the objective of achieving consumer price index inflation at 5% by the fourth quartr of this fiscal and the medium-term target of 4%, while supporting growth.

"The outlook for GVA growth for 2016-17 has turned uncertain after the unexpected loss of momentum by 50 basis points in Q2 and the effects of the withdrawal of specified bank notes, which are still playing out," the RBI says.

The apex bank is of the view that short-run disruptions in economic activity in cash-intensive sectors such as retail trade, hotels & restaurants and transportation, and in the unorganised sector; and aggregate demand compression associated with adverse wealth effects, are the downside risks for the economy.

However, the central bank is of the view that the impact of the first channel should ebb with the progressive increase in the circulation of new currency notes and greater usage of non-cash based payment instruments in the economy, and that the impact of the second channel is likely to be limited.

As for the market, stocks faltered after a rebound from lower levels. Soon after the central bank said there is no change in the repo rate, stocks, especially from the banking space, tumbled. Though the broad market managed to bounce back swiftly, a fresh round of selling is taking a toll of stocks from across various sectors now.

Besides key stocks from the banking space, a few from realty sector are hurt by the status quo on the repo rate.

Healthcare stocks are trading weak. IT and FMCG stocks are mostly subdued. Automobile, metal and power stocks turning in a mixed performance.

The Sensex is down 139.82 points or 0.52% at 26,252.94, nearly 90 points off the day's low and almost 300 points from the day's high. The Nifty50, which declined to 8077.50 after having risen to 8190.45 before RBI's policy statement, is currently at 8106.10, down 37.05 points or 0.44% from its previous close.

]]>New Delhi: A day to the month after high denomination notes were banned, there was no respite in sight for cash-strapped people on Wednesday as queues outside banks and ATMs for money withdrawal continued across the country with rising anger and pain.

There was a crowd of about 30-40 customers at the Axis Bank in Sector 16 of Noida, adjoining Delhi.

Many among the crowd were arguing with the guard for not informing them that the bank had run out of cash. Out of desperation, they asked the guard to let them in and see for themselves that there was no cash.

"The bank ran out of cash at 10.30 a.m. I have been telling people to return, but they won't listen," the bank guard told IANS.

Customers complained that they were never informed whether there was any cash left or not.

"Are we fools to stand here for hours, only to hear that there's no money left," an angry young woman shouted.

Marmik, an HCL Technologies employee, said he joined the queue at 6.30 a.m. after returning from his night shift. He was yet to get money even at 2 p.m.

"There were 40 people outside the bank in the morning, three hours befor the bank opened. By the time my turn came around 1 p.m., the bank officials announced there was no cash. My shift starts at 5:30 p.m. and I'm now not only cashless, but sleepless too," said Marmik.

The situation at the adjoining Kotak Mahindra bank was worse since it received no cash at all during the day.

"We didn't receive any cash today (Wednesday). We had cash on Monday. We are not certain if we will have it on Thursday," Customer Service Manager Ishwar told IANS.

"Our ATM hasn't seen any money since November 8. We can't say when it will have money," he added.

Many people who live in rented accommodations found their pain doubled, when their landlords refused to accept cheques or payments through e-wallets. Many said they were threatened with being thrown out if they didn't pay in cash.

"We are seven tenants here and my landlord has always dealt in cash. He wouldn't accept cheques from us, and threatened to kick us out," Anubhav Dey, a student in New friends Colony, in south Delhi, told IANS.

Many among the hundreds of people standing in queues were heard blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the pain of cashlessness after the government's November 8 demonetisation decision.

"Modi is not going to come back to power for the next 15 years," said a man standing in queue at an SBI ATM on Parliament Street.

Lucky from Paschim Vihar, in west Delhi, asked where were the 'achche din', recalling the government's promise of better days after the BJP came to power in 2014.

The efficacy of e-wallet apps like Paytm was also in question as issues kept emerging related to network connectivity resulting in transaction failures.

"Modi's idea of infrastructure building is Paytm! The success of its working depends upon many things. What if my phone dies on me? What if I am at a place where I have no internet connectivity? I am dangerously dependent on my phone now and I am not liking it," Victor, a trained biologist, told IANS. He was in a queue outside an ATM at Indirapuram in Ghaziabad.

]]>New Delhi - As part of its year-end offers, Chinese technology conglomerate LeEco on Wednesday announced a two-day offer of 10 per cent discount on its "Le 2" and "Le 1s Eco" Superphones purchased on Axis Bank debit and credit cards.

"Customers can also avail an exchange offer up to Rs 10,000 while purchasing 'Le 2' and up to Rs 8,000 on 'Le 1s Eco'," the company said in a statement.

The offers are available only on Flipkart on December 7 and 8.

LeEco was recently named among India's most attractive mobile phone brands by TRA Research, a brand insights company.

]]>, throwing out an appeals court ruling that the South Korean company had to pay a $399 million penalty to its American rival for copying key iPhone designs.

The 8-0 ruling, written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, held that a patent violator does not always have to fork over its entire profits from the sales of products using stolen designs, if the designs covered only certain components and not the whole thing.

The justices sent the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington to determine how much Samsung must pay. But they did not provide a road map to juries and lower courts on how to navigate similar disputes in the future.

Following a 2012 jury verdict favouring Apple, Samsung initially was hit with nearly $930 million in penalties, later cut by $382 million, for infringing Apple's iPhone patents and mimicking its distinctive appearance in making the Galaxy and other competing devices.

Samsung in December 2015 paid its Cupertino, California-based rival $548 million. But Samsung took the matter to the Supreme Court, saying it should not have had to make $399 million of that payout for copying the patented designs of the iPhone's rounded-corner front face, bezel and colourful grid of icons that represent programs and applications.

With the products that used iPhone designs, Samsung went on to become the world's top smartphone maker.

Tuesday's ruling followed a ferocious legal battle between the world's top two smartphone manufacturers that began in 2011 when Apple sued Samsung for patent and trademark infringement. It was one of the most closely watched patent cases to come before the top U.S. court in recent years.

The legal dispute centered on whether the term "article of manufacture," on which design patent damages are calculated in U.S. patent law, should be interpreted as a finished product in its entirety, or merely a component in a complex product.

In court papers, Samsung, Apple and the U.S. government all agreed that the term could mean a component.

But Apple urged the Supreme Court to affirm the appeals court's ruling because Samsung presented no evidence that the article of manufacture in this case was anything less than its entire smartphone as sold. Samsung, meanwhile, said that it did not have to present such evidence.

Sotomayor, writing for the unanimous court, said that the law is clear. The term "article of manufacture is broad enough to encompass both a product sold to a consumer as well as a component of that product," she wrote.

PERIOD OF UNCERTAINTY

The justices nevertheless refused to devise a test for juries and lower courts to use to discern what a relevant article of manufacture is in a particular case, a task that could be fraught with difficulty when considering high-tech products.

"No doubt whether with Apple-Samsung, or some other design patent case, we are going to have a period of uncertainty where courts will be trying to formulate a test and what the boundaries are," Richard McKenna, an expert in design rights at the law firm Foley & Lardner in Milwaukee, said in an interview.

Representatives from Apple and Samsung could not immediately be reached for comment.

In court papers, Apple said its iPhone's success was tied to innovative designs, which other manufacturers quickly adopted in their own products. Samsung, in particular, made a deliberate decision to copy the iPhone's look and many user interface features, Apple said.

Samsung argued that it should not have had to turn over all its profits, saying that design elements contributed only marginally to a complex product with thousands of patented features.

Design patent fights very rarely reach the Supreme Court. It had not heard such a case in more than 120 years.

The case is Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd v. Apple Inc, in the Supreme Court of the United States, No. 15-777.